Young Lawyer of the Year: No Loopholes

Young Lawyer of the Year: No Loopholes

By Katy Kickham

Special to the Review

Just call her the tax lady.

When Sherri Johnson walks into a courtroom, she is fighting for Florida taxpayers. And while ad valorem taxation might sound like a topic that would put an insomniac to sleep, it keeps Johnson ticking.

"I like the fact that I get to make law in my practice," says Johnson, 31, a new partner at Sarasota's Dent & Johnson.

The firm and Johnson work closely with property appraisers from around the state who face a property owner disgruntled over the valuation placed on his property and/or a classification dispute.

For example, when property appraisers included sales tax in the assessment of the personal property of retail stores, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. took the appraisers to court. But in the companion cases of Mazourek v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. v. Todora, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in favor of the appraisers, finding acquisition costs do include taxes, installation, shelving and freight.

"I'm not going to let people get unwarranted tax breaks that I'm going to have to pay for," Johnson says.

Johnson's line of work is certainly no "Law and Order" drama, but it is essential in maintaining equality. For Johnson, that is excitement enough.

In her seven years of practice, she has participated in 32 appeals; about 10 resulted in what she calls significant changes to the tax law.

Her success has landed her a partnership at what was Dent & Associates PA, now Dent & Johnson, as of April 1.

"Appellate law can be really fun, but people don't realize it," she says.

Johnson says she enjoys appellate work because she gets to argue in front of three judges, instead of one. While this might intimidate others, for Johnson it's the more the merrier as far as judges go. That's why she loves arguing in front of the Third District Court of Appeal, which she describes as a "hot bench."

The firm recently had an en banc oral argument before that court. "It's the entire appeals court, so you have an oral argument with 15 judges up there throwing questions at you," she says. "That's exciting!"

Johnson says she felt the same way about going up in front of the Florida Supreme Court her first year out of law school, even though she lost the case.

"Sometimes we don't just ... give them a tax break just to settle," says John Dent, her law partner.

But challenges make Johnson come back swinging harder.

One of her clients, Monroe County Property Appraiser Ervin Higgs, sees this when she represents him in Key West. "The bigger the attorney that comes, the more aggressive she gets," he says.

Johnson agrees.

"Your practice is only as sophisticated as the opponents you practice against," she says. "And most of them are pretty good attorneys, so it raises the bar."

She has learned a lot from courtroom opponent Rob Kelley of Tampa's Hill, Ward and Henderson, she says. And he returns the respect.

"She is usually very well prepared and she makes a good argument; and for that reason, she is effective," Kelley says.

Johnson doesn't take her success for granted. She credits much of it to Dent, who hired her as an intern during the summer prior to her last year of law school. She joined the firm after graduation.

"I can't see any other attorney letting me argue significant cases so soon," she says. "He really boosted my confidence and my loyalty."

In turn, Dent says he appreciates Johnson's enthusiasm for her work. "I'm not a real hit at cocktail parties. I put everybody to sleep," he says. "To get excited about this you have to be unique."

Kelley sees this passion as well.

"The one thing you have to keep in mind, property tax valuation is not the sexiest stuff you can do as a lawyer, but she is pretty adept at making it interesting," Kelley says.

Johnson's passion is reflected in two of her cases pending before the Florida Supreme Court. The cases involve property owned and operated by municipalities in the Village of Islamorada in the Florida Keys and in Gainesville. Both properties are used to make a profit, but the municipalities are demanding tax exemptions. The government is returning a profit on cell phone towers in one case and on a marina in the other.

"While county and state property is immune from taxation, city property is only exempt if it is used exclusively for municipal or public purposes," Johnson argues. "Why should the city property be exempt when private property being used for the same purpose isn't?"

This inequitable standard hurts taxpayers and small businesses, she says, adding: "If we give the city an exemption for all of the property they own, regardless of how it is used, it causes everybody else's taxes to go up."

While Johnson enjoys her work, it does not come without a downside.

"The biggest frustration that I have in this area of law is that it is not well understood by the public and the judges," she says. "Generally speaking, while we have very competent judges, most of them have not practiced in this area. We have to go to great lengths to educate them."

Johnson took years of property appraisal classes to get to the point she is at today. Now she educates and updates property appraisers.

"It gets a little complicated and sometimes you run into problems and that's when I have to call on Sherri," says Higgs, Monroe's appraiser.

Part of the problem is that the laws are constantly changing. "Every year there's either a new exemption or a new way to classify property," she says.

This area of law is unique for another reason - the limitation on bringing in new clients. There are only 67 counties in Florida.

"It's really not about bringing in business, but maintaining relationships and making your clients happy," says Johnson, who also focuses on commercial litigation and business/corporate law. In those areas, she solicits new clients for the firm.

Johnson is involved in a women's networking group, the Chamber of Commerce, the Sarasota County Bar Association, the Florida Association for Women Lawyers, and, for fun, the Phenomenal Women's Book Club, of which, she says, "I am the literature diva of the group."

Though the firm now represents property appraisers exclusively, she previously represented other businesses, including General Electric Co. In Gilreath v. General Electric Co., the court ruled that custom computer software is intangible property, not tangible, and thus is not subject to ad valorem tax.

The medium, not the software, was tangible, the court ruled. As a result, the company did not have to pay the $250,000 original tax assessment.

Many of these cases take years to resolve, but Johnson doesn't give up. "One thing that drives me is the people we represent," she says. "When we go to court, and the other side has paid oodles of money to come tear apart what the employees have done, that drives me."

Johnson says she genuinely cares and respects her clients, and she takes the time to get to know them.

"Flying to Key West is never a hardship," she says. "I absolutely adore my client, Ervin Higgs. You always hear about these good ol' boys and as a woman you think they are not going to let you represent them."

Johnson says she has been blessed with clients who view her as an equal.

As for now, Johnson is getting ready to apply for board certification in appellate law and working toward an honorary Key West title - Bubba.

"I have yet to be called 'bubba.' I have yet to earn the title," she says.